Easter 2 B: Holding Fast

John 20:19-31 Dear Partner in Preaching, My apologies for the lateness of this post. This week totally got away from me! So I’ll keep it short. Two brief ideas that perhaps fall together and complement each other. Thought # 1: What an assortment of people and emotions in the two upper-room gatherings John narrates! There are folks who deserted Jesus, denied him, watched him die at a distance, and at least one up close. There are folks who saw the empty tomb, one believed (though what he believed, exactly, we don’t know) and one was confused by what he witnessed. Fear abounds, and doors are for that reason locked fast. After Jesus appears...